(Newser)
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When Santa Barbara High School principal John Becchio stepped into his office Tuesday morning, he was greeted by a strange sight: a four-piece mariachi band. "What are you doing here?" he asked, but by way of explanation, he had to endure an hour-plus of music as he walked the school's halls—the butt of a senior class joke, the Los Angeles Times reports. A video of the hoopla—uploaded to YouTube by a school district staffer—has now gone viral, with more than half a million views in two days.

"I didn't think it would take off the way it did," said Becchio, who arrived to school the day before to find his possessions had been shrink-wrapped. "It was kind of a special send-off." The school district added, per KLTV, "It was a senior prank that delighted students and staff." Apparently Becchio should be thankful the entertainment lasted only a short time. Last year, students of West Linn High School in Oregon pulled the same trick on their principal, only the music lasted three hours, Today reports. (Officials at this New Jersey high school weren't as impressed with their school's senior prank, which ended in 62 arrests.)